The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in Arthrex v Smith & Nephew, a case on whether Patent Trial and Appeal Board judges were constitutionally appointed.
IP litigation partner Matt Rizzolo (Washington, D.C.) provides insights about the case for articles published in Managing IP, Bloomberg Law and The National Law Journal.
Matt notes that the Supreme Court appeared to find the structure of the PTAB to be constitutionally problematic, but that some justices expressed concern that a ruling that administrative patent judges were unconstitutionally appointed could call into question the constitutionality of countless other government officials. He explains that the Court may have a path to limit the impact of any ruling to situations where officers were acting in an adjudicatory capacity.
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